[Banshee]

Personal Information:
1. The name, commcode, and picture of a private citizen (for instance, John Smith, a UCAS citizen who works for a non-extraterritorial corporation)
2. The name, commcode, and picture of a corporate citizen (for instance, Jane Smith who works for a AAA rated corporation like Ares Macrotechnology)
3. The name, commcode, and picture of a non-citizen (for instance, ZeroSum, a SIN-less runner who works the shadows in Seattle)
4. The name, commcode, and picture of the Fake SIN used by the character in the previous example

Location Information:
1. The street address of a bar in Chicago
2. What kind of specials the bar serves on a daily basis
3. The fact that the bar remained open during the Chicago Quarantine, but no information about how or why
4. The fact that this particular bar is a common place for Mr Johnsons to meet runner teams
5. The fact that the bar owner is secretly a sentient ghoul, and that he has a soft spot for other sentient infected

Paydata:
1. A file containing conspiracy theories about the current UCAS President
2. Information suggesting that the file is actively being removed from the Matrix, and is getting harder to find
3. Confirmation that the file was compiled by a specific individual
4. Information about who the individual who compiled the file is
5. Specific information about the origin of the file, including specific node/host/VPN and author

On my phone so hopefully I got the formatting right

Personal Information
1-3 ... name and picture yes, commcode maybe. It may not be as simple as listed in "the phone book" but there are sources a decker can get access to that would have this information without needing to do a hack run ... for example Shadowland or similar datahaven is something that would be a "publically accessible" source for a decker
4. Maybe, but most likely the same as above especially if it is a solid fake with a developed background it would appear on the matrix just as a real sin. A cheap low rating throw away may not just because it may not have the supporting info

Location
1-3 yes
4 most likely
5 maybe, how guarded is the secret .. would be something that could be useful if shared and therefore maybe posted in the right places if you know where to look or it is only available via private communications

Pay data
1-2 yes
3 maybe ... was it posted anonymously, if so it maybe require some hacking (ie digital forensics) to trace back and that is not a Searchable item
4 same as above, how much did the file original share
5 most likely not unless openly shared as part of the file by the original author or if someone else did the legwork already and shared it

[ZeroSum]

Well, that's going above and beyond.

Seriously, thanks once again, Banshee. I feel like a broken record, but I really cannot overstate how much I appreciate you taking time to engage with us.

[Xenon]

I 100% agree.

Banshee, it is really helpful that you choose to interact with us directly like this! :-)

[Banshee]

Awwww shucks guys

Seriously though, I've been a SR fan far far longer than I've been involved in helping make it. So I figure it's the least I can do when I'm actually able to shine a direct light on a subject and not just another random opinion

[Michael Chandra]

(I am incredibly confused that someone would argue Matrix Search isn't an Extended test, when the book explicitly calls it (Extended, 10 minutes) and "an Extended test, Electronics + Intuition with a 10-minute interval"?)

I agree a FAQ explaining rough guidelines what publicly accessible means, might be a good idea. Like I said, for me it's what you can get and extrapolate through a clever Google search. Which is more than you might think, but still not as much as you'd expect. Take for example my IP: Sure, plenty of places log it, but it's not publicly accessible so you'd have to hack first.

But for some people it might even include their private phone number and private home address, all because they have an Ltd to handle certain assets and the chamber of commerce made those details publicly purchasable despite them not running an actual company... (Yes, this happened in The Netherlands, so some people's private info is publicly available on Google as a result.) So in the end, a lot is up to the GM: Did people gossip en public, or only on secured forums?

[Xenon]

Just nu typing in my name in Google and picking one of the top three hits (the first two had the same name but lived at a different location) return information about my address, including zip code, how long I lived at this address, if it's a house or a flat (and in that case which floor or apartment), male or female, if I got any registered companies or not and if so their registered name and unique company id, if I have been in court and if so for what reason (law suits, indictment, convictions) the fact I am married, her full name, my full birth date, days until my next birth day, quick link to send flowers or a gift, my birth place, if I have any registered and listed phone numbers and if so also the number, list of people that recent moved into the area and all but the last digits of my 'SIN'.

All from one page. 5 second search.

The second page I visited had my full address with zip code, birth day, picture of my house, the identification name of the property, how big in sqr meters it is, air/sattelite image of the property and another over the general area, historical fly photos from 1950s and 1960s. Link to discover things to do in the general area, nearby restaurants and hotels, GPS coordinates

[Plan_B]

The amount of personal information that is available online is staggering and, at least for some of us, worrying. There's a lot a Matrix Search can turn up. What it can't turn up is "Super Secret Stuff," like the true and utterly nefarious purpose for this otherwise nondescript Azzie lab that looks like, and is presented as, any old basic bio-research lab.

[Banshee]

Just nu typing in my name in Google and picking one of the top three hits (the first two had the same name but lived at a different location) return information about my address, including zip code, how long I lived at this address, if it's a house or a flat (and in that case which floor or apartment), male or female, if I got any registered companies or not and if so their registered name and unique company id, if I have been in court and if so for what reason (law suits, indictment, convictions) the fact I am married, her full name, my full birth date, days until my next birth day, quick link to send flowers or a gift, my birth place, if I have any registered and listed phone numbers and if so also the number, list of people that recent moved into the area and all but the last digits of my 'SIN'.

All from one page. 5 second search.

Exactly, so by extension if you assume information is relatively posted in a similar manner in SR then a Mayrix Search sure can dig up a LOT of information on a target (person, place, or thing).

But ... where the real time and effort comes in is sorting out what is false and what's missing, because not all of it is accurate or presented. You need to follow a few links here and there and cross reference some research, etc ... but even then you don't get the whole story without talking to people or getting access to secure information both of which are beyond the scope of a Matrix Search

[Michael Chandra]

My real name can get you (through historical results) my high school, university, gaming club and LinkedIn profile, but not my address, phonenumber, court history, marriage or birthday. So it greatly depends on the individual. As such, I do not believe guidelines on what is and what isn't public can be proper, since it still depends on the situation. And given how people already raged at 'these are training time guidelines which you do not have to follow'... -,-

[Xenon]

So it greatly depends on the individual.

It greatly depend on the county the individual is living in...

[Hobbes]

My real name can get you (through historical results) my high school, university, gaming club and LinkedIn profile, but not my address, phonenumber, court history, marriage or birthday. So it greatly depends on the individual. As such, I do not believe guidelines on what is and what isn't public can be proper, since it still depends on the situation. And given how people already raged at 'these are training time guidelines which you do not have to follow'... -,-

Here in 'murica most court history is public info and is searchable if you've got the access, my vague understanding is that it's a fee for most municipalities to have access to search the digital records.  If it's old enough or involves a minor or is sealed in some way those records either aren't digital or need a court order to unseal.  A real lawyer can answer more specifically but you can search public records online and that certainly includes a lot of court stuff.   

Address and Phone number you can frequently get from the online phone books once you have a real name. 

If you've ever had a social media account anywhere someone could likely figure out your Birthday and Marriage status.  Facebook and Reddit both announce your birthday to anyone who cares to check. 

Cyberstalking.  It's a thing.  Lots of info out there for a determined and skilled searcher.

[ZeroSum]

Excellent points, Hobbes.

Now move the timeline forward 60 years where P2.0 is Facebook and Instagram and Tiktok and Youtube all rolled into one and dialled up to 11, and I think it's likely, if not straight out plausible, that the vast majority of people have a metric ton of data available on them on the public Matrix because they put it there voluntarily.

The exception to this would be corporate higher-ups and those who want to hide their identity, but that in and of itself can be suspicious. Just like the noticing Magic chapter points out;

Learn how the world works and how it doesn’t:
The best way to spot something unnatural is to understand what is natural, to better recognize what should not be. The Sixth World is, of course, an immensely complicated and tricky place, where the course of the world operating in its normal way can seem surprising and uncanny. Careful observation, though, will tell you when something is off. Did a flight of pixies throwing trails of glitter just sweep into a nightclub? That’s just the way the world is. Did you see a centaur roaring down I-5 in a Hyundai Shin-Hyung? That’s probably an illusion—Hyundai hasn’t built a centaur-modded version of that model yet. Careful observation always helps.

This is great advice for GMs being asked about what they can and cannot find on the Matrix. Instead of focusing on what today's world is like, remember that we are dealing with a dystopian future where not only surveillance is everywhere, but so is people's self-involvement and their desire for "exposure".

If you spend half an hour to an hour looking for a facial recognition match on P2.0 and find absolutely nothing, chances are the person in question is hiding something. It could be big, it could be nothing, but it probably warrants a closer look.

[Stainless Steel Devil Rat]

Indeed. The "Hey, Wiretap" meme, given yet another sixty years...

[ZeroSum]

Heh, had to look that one up. Definitely.

[Xenon]

In the TV series Leverage it seem as if most of their initial legwork in almost all episodes is done by their 'hacker'. Probably via 'matrix search' together together with some elements of hacking.

Lisbeth Salander (Girl with the dragon tattoo) also seem do most of her profiling via excellent 'matrix search' skills together with elements of hacking, her contacts within the hacking community scene and possibly also by stalking her mark, placing recording devices in their home when they are not there and requesting public records from various institutes.

I feel this kinda help out to set the level of Intel one could expect from a skilled decker or technomancer (but probably not from just Matrix Search alone).